updated 09:55 am EST, Mon March 5, 2012

Nokia Om dropped at Verizon over lack of LTE

Verizon had secretly dropped plans for a Nokia-made Windows Phone, according to a possible leak Monday. Nicknamed the Om, it would have shipped in January or early February if The Verge's source was right. It had been scrapped after Verizon had decided on its all-LTE strategy for 2012 smartphones, which would have ruled out the 3G-only Om.

The carrier hadn't sworn off Windows Phone entirely, but as it had commented earlier, support depended on LTE being available, regardless of the designer. It's now expected to wait on Apollo, known informally as Windows Phone 8. Most anticipate it introducing closer ties to Windows 8 on the desktop as well as dual-core and NFC wireless support.

The release won't arrive until late until 2012, however, and could leave Verizon without any modern Windows Phone for several months. Its only Windows Phone to date, the HTC Trophy, was first released in its European form a year and a half earlier. AT&T, in the interim, will carry the Lumia 900 with Nokia's biggest-ever phone screen and built-in LTE.